Pumpkin Puree

I love baking with seasonal fruit and vegetables and fall means it is pumpkin season.  I really wanted to take advantage of all the great fresh pumpkins this year but I have always been too lazy to actually make my own pumpkin puree and I always just used canned.  This year I thought I might as well try it out and make my own pumpkin puree so I could see if it was worth the effort. Totally was.  First get a sugar pumpkin.  Most grocery stores sell them, they are just a smaller size, but not the super small pumpkins.  Usually they are not near the pumpkins for decorating but by the vegetables.  You can always ask someone if in doubt, because I had the most trouble with this part of the making the puree.  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Wash the outside of the pumpkin.

3. Cut out the stem.

4. Cut the pumpkin into 1/8's (in half, in half, in half)

5. Dig out all the seeds.

6. Place the pumpkin on parchment paper on a baking sheet however you want (haven't found much of a difference on what sides I lay them on)

7. Bake for about an hour (whenever the flesh becomes easy to pull away with a fork).

8.  When cool enough to work with, but still hot, peel of cut off all the skin and discard.

9. Put all the pumpkin guys in a blender, food processor of use an emersion blender and mix well.

Such a better cooler and I feel so much better about eating this rather than all that canned pumpkin!

Enjoy!

Since I usually don't use all my pumpkin in one recipe I package the rest is freezer bags with all the air pushed out so they will keep longer.  In the fringe the puree only lasts about a week but in the freezer it can last up to 6 months (and some people say a year!)